The Sand Creatures

Posted on March 28, 2012 | 4 Comments

animaris gubernare – YouTube.

Just imagine coming across this at the beach. I can just see it meandering along at Waihi beach or the Mount.

It’s an example of a wind powered  Beach Animal constructed by the Dutch artist and kinetic sculptor Theo Jansen out of PVC pipe. Here’s a brief description of the artist and the construction of these Strandbeests – Sand creatures.

Beach creatures

These creatures almost seem alive. Something to think about. How much of what we think of a properties of life simply come from structure.

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4 responses to “The Sand Creatures”

  1. Nick | March 28, 2012 at 10:50 am |

    That is really cool.

    And I would say that all of the properties of life “ultimately” come from structure of varying levels of complexity.

    Theres quite an interesting book called Shapes (Philip Ball) that gets into this in detail. Exploring natures shapes for example, spiral shells, honeycombs etc …. from a causative point of view. Interesting reading in particular for somebody who is convinced that natural complexity = intelligent design…

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  2. Nick | March 28, 2012 at 10:52 am |

    To clarify, that is a hypothetical somebody who is convinced that natural complexity=intelligent design, not me, or PhIlip Ball. i.e. this book might help them see the error of their ways..;-)

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  3. The Vicar (via Wordpress) | March 28, 2012 at 11:33 am |

    Reminds me of Junji Itou’s bizarre and over-the-top horror comic “Gyo”:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyo

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  4. Ken | March 28, 2012 at 12:47 pm |

    Thanks for the info on the book “Shapes,” Nick. Another to add to my list. It’s certainly an interesting area.

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